Bitcoin's apparent demand has improved markedly but remains negative at -32,000 BTC, CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said on Aug. 15. He said estimated demand stood at -272,000 BTC when Bitcoin entered its current consolidation in early June, making the latest reading a constructive shift but still not a strong one. Darkfost said similar patterns appeared in February and May 2026 before demand weakened again. He added that the move may also be tied to a decline in average mining output as hashrate, the network's total computing power, has fallen, reducing production. The apparent demand metric is used to gauge whether structural accumulation is strong enough to absorb newly created Bitcoin supply.